Sir John Barrow (1764–1848)

Since Sir John Barrow did not experience the mutiny first-hand, I decided to review his work like any other author. He served the Admiralty as the Second Secretary for 40 years, so I was expecting an overtly patriotic defense of Capt. Bligh. But I stand corrected! Barrow is mostly fair in his assessment, considering his era and position. Like Alexander, Barrow describes Bligh as passionate, temperamental, but no worse than most, and Fletcher didn't deserve all the blame.

One mistake he did show more make was criticizing Bligh for the extended sojourn in Tahiti. Because of the Admiralty's delay, Bligh arrived right before monsoon season, so he of course he couldn't leave! Barrow should've known this. My only conclusion is that Barrow chose to scrutinize every party involved except of course his employer.

Barrow is also surprisingly defensive of the Otaheite natives. I wouldn't say he isn't racist, he condescendingly describes them as "innocent" and "simple" after all, but he abhors the changes wrought by colonialism. He believes the natives to be entirely blameless (indeed they are!) for the whole incident.

For this review, I had to imagine myself as a reader in 1831. Therefore the reason for the 3.5 is because Barrow presumes a bit too much. It's a good thing I read Alexander's book beforehand for context. The "Mutiny" chapter is mostly quoting Bligh's account word for word. For the reader it's simply lazy writing. But the death-bed confession of one of the mutineers was an intriguing addition! But if you ever care to check out Barrow, I do recommend this Folio Society edition though. It is the tidiest, perfectly designed copy out there! show less

The combination of official documentary language and the touches of personality in letters and interview make for captivating picture of what life was both in the British Navy and for the members of the family ashore.

Dark green cloth, chipping top, bottom spine & corners very minor foxing on select pages. Binding tight, appears end pages adeptly redone. Large foldout letter 9"x15" in Drake's hand at p.300.